Continuity of government 521965 216787230 2008-06-03T05:46:04Z 63.249.108.58 eats shoots and leaves... {{article issues |cleanup = March 2007 |copyedit = March 2007 |expert = March 2007 |globalize = October 2006}} {{POV-check|date=December 2007}} '''Continuity of government''' ('''COG''') is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a [[government]] to continue its essential operations in case of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] or other catastrophic event. COG was developed by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] during [[World War II]] to counter the threat of [[Luftwaffe]] bombing during the [[Battle of Britain]]. The need for continuity-of-government plans gained new urgency with [[nuclear proliferation]]. Countries during the [[Cold War]] and afterwards developed such plans in the event of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] to avoid confusion and disorder in a [[power vacuum]] in the aftermath of a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]]. ==Continuity of government in the United States== {{main|Continuity of Operations Plan}} * Each facility is counterpart to its peacetime equivalent. ** [[Site R]] (Raven Rock) → [[The Pentagon]] ([[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]) ** [[Mount Weather]] → [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] ** [[Camp David]] → [[Executive Office of the President]] ** Unknown → [[United States Congress]] ([[The Greenbrier]] was to be used until 1992, when it was decommissioned) ** [[National Audio-Visual Conservation Center]] (Mount Pony) → [[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of Treasury]]/[[Federal Reserve]] (Sold off in 1997 to the National Audiovisual Conservation Center, no longer part of the Continuity of government). ** [[Cheyenne Mountain]] → [[North American Aerospace Defense Command]] (NORAD) * Also, mobile systems are used for additional command and control. ** E-4, E-135, EC-130, and E-6 are all airborne command centers. **[[Air Force One]] is the term for any [[USAF]] plane the [[President of the United States]] travels on. However, the term normally refers to a [[Boeing VC-25]]A the President normally uses. While the VC-25A is equipped with numerous systems to ensure its survival, in an emergency, it would be recommended that he use the [[National Airborne Operations Center]], a [[Boeing E-4]] specially built to serve as a survivable mobile command post. The [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] may also use it, as a member of the [[National Command Authority]]. It is also possible that the President would authorize the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] to use it, depending on the circumstances. **An [[E-6 Mercury]], codenamed ''Looking Glass'', is [[USSTRATCOM]]'s Airborne Command Post, designed to take over in case [[NORAD]]'s [[Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center]] is destroyed or incapable of communicating with strategic forces. **NORAD owns and operates a mobile vehicular command center * [[National Program Office]] was established as a shadow government by the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration. ==Continuity of government in France== The Centre d'Opération des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques (COFAS) is a hardened command center for French nuclear forces in [[Taverny]], [[Val d'Oise]]. The alternate national command center is located at Mont Verdun near [[Lyon]]. The hardened headquarters of Force Océanique Stratégique (FOST), France's nuclear [[SSBN]] fleet, is at [[Houilles]], [[Yvelines]]. ==Continuity of government in the United Kingdom== The primary British COG headquarters is at the Ministry of Defence in [[Whitehall]]. An alternate national command center has been maintained in a quarry complex near Box, Wiltshire. The above-ground support facility is RAF Rudloe Manor. Service command centers are Northwood for the Royal Navy Trident SSBN force, and [[High Wycombe]] for the Royal Air Force. ==See also== * [[Central Government War Headquarters]] * [[Charles E. Allen#Continuity of Government|Charles E. Allen]] * [[Civil Contingencies Secretariat]] * [[Continuity of Operations Plan]] * [[Critical Infrastructure Protection]] * [[Designated survivor]] * [[Disaster recovery]] * [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] * [[Mount Weather]] * [[National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive]] * [[Shadow government]] ==External links== * [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201410_pf.html Washington Post article - Back to the Bunker] * [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/01/attack/main502530.shtml CBS News Article - 'Shadow Government' News to Congress] * [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8622796487067551025 Video: COVER UP - Behind the Iran Contra Affair - Pt 3] specifically, also [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4755829652615170641 Pt 1] [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6363522851504883872 Pt 2] * [http://www.marxists.org/history/capitalism/white-book-capitalism/usa/executive-orders.htm Summary of Executive Powers] * [http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/118489654058910.xml&coll=7 Congressman DeFazio denied access to Continuity of Government files] [[Category:Disaster preparedness in the United States]] [[ro:Continuitate a guvernului]]